Fine Arts

ART 1050--Introduction to Photography

One of the assignments in my ART 1050 course was to put together a thematic portfolio of my photography. I chose “Light in the City,” an examination of the interplay of architecture and changing lighting conditions in urban settings. The complete write-up accompanying my portfolio is in the (non existent) file called lightcity.doc

Reflection

This photographic portfolio assignment combined with the course material itself to improve my photographic skills. I learned quite a bit more about how to operate a digital SLR camera, such as….etc. I also learned from studying the work of professional photographers and how they use light to achieve certain effects in their photographs. For instance, ….etc. [Notice here that the student is speaking to Learning Outcome #1, which is Discipline-specific knowledge and skill--in this case, photography.]

I liked how this assignment connected with what I learned about rhetorical analysis in the English 1010 course I took last semester. You can see from the English 2010 signature assignment I put in this portfolio that I learned about key aspects of rhetorical analysis, such as context, audience, purpose, and the use of strategies for rhetorical effect. While doing this assignment in my photography class, I realized that the use of light is an important rhetorical choice for photographers. For instance, in the gallery above, notice how in the photo of St. Paul’s Cathedral the diffuse light turns the tangle of many buildings across the Thames into what looks like a two-dimensional facade. On the other hand, the sunny afternoon photos of San Francisco and Manhattan give a tremendous sense of depth and vibrancy. And the haze of Shanghai lends an other-worldly character to that image. Just as when interpreting text, one can rhetorically examine form of visual communication such as photographs.